SENIOR MANAGEMENT OF UL Hospitals Group have been directed to relocate to the University Hospital Limerick (UHL) campus in Dooradoyle.
Management of the hospital have been instructed to relocate to the hospital campus, senior management had been based out of an office in a nearby industrial estate.
Clare TD, Cathal Crowe (FF) has frequently criticised the mechanism which allowed management to be off-site. “I’m delighted that common sense has prevailed and UHL management have been directed to relocate to the UHL Hospital Campus in Dooradoyle in Limerick. For the past couple of years, the senior management team of the UHL Group have been located in an industrial estate at an office building a couple of kilometres away from the hospital,” he said.
Deputy Crowe stated, “I have repeatedly made the point in the Dáil that hospital management needed to be on site and it made no sense for them to be remote from the hospital working environment. Prior to my election to the Dáil, I worked as a primary school teacher. It would be unheard of in the world of education that a principal would be managing a school from a remote location and the same can be said for many other workplace scenarios.
“Furthermore, the Justice Frank Clarke report into the death of Aoife Johnston identified that on the night Aoife lost her life, it wasn’t clear who was in charge of the hospital. It makes sense for management to be on site. Only then can they have proper oversight of situations in the hospital environment and in my opinion, it will inform better decision making,” the Meelick native added.
Meanwhile, Prof Brian Lenehan, Chief Clinical Director at UHL has applied for an injunction at the High Court seeking a restraining order preventing the HSE from suspending him, the Sunday Independent has reported.
Prof Lenehan is one of four people including Chief Executive Colette Cowan placed on administrative leave pending a disciplinary inquiry into the death of Shannon teenager Aoife Johnston at UHL.
In a statement to the Sunday Independent, Prof Lenehan said the tragic death of Aoife is “never far from my thoughts and, as I have always pressed for, must remain central in whatever comes out of this process”. He extended his condolences to Aoife’s family and acknowledged their “profound distress”.
“I have participated, and will continue to participate fully in all internal HSE processes. My goal is that those processes are concluded comprehensively and expeditiously and I have not sought to delay the investigation process in my action to protect my rights. The decision, however, to place me on administrative leave, in my capacity as chief clinical director, a role to which I was appointed in 2020 and reappointed to in 2023, was, I believe, unwarranted,” he stated.
He said for the HSE internal process to be considered “objective and credible”, all decisions, including ones “relating to administrative leave while these processes are ongoing”, must be made fairly and reasonably. “There must be full transparency on this matter, and I — along with others — have consistently called on the HSE to publish the full report by retired chief justice Clarke. Now that this has been actioned, media coverage to date has already shown how the Clarke report provides vital context on the circumstances that led to this tragic event, and should undoubtedly be considered as central to any HSE process currently being contemplated”.
